Jonathan Cape

Publishers from Bloomsbury, Faber, Penguin Press, and more choose their books of the year, and the ones that got away.

The book that made my year: Many years ago, I was sitting in Blake's bar in Enniskillen with John McGahern and he recommended an American novel from the 60s, written by John Williams: a book called Stoner. I thought it was astonishing, and I passed it to vintage, who brought it out in 2003 with John's introduction.